Catherine DeUgarte

I brought two PGS-tested normal embryos to CMD to undergo Frozen Embryos Transfer (FET) procedures. The doctor implanted both of my embryos during an interval outside the “implantation windows”. This error made it impossible for the embryos to survive. The two lost PGS-tested normal embryos were fertilized from my 39 year-old egg. Following the FET failures, I went through six more IVF cycles that yielded zero normal embryos. It is extremely difficult at age 43 to yield PGS-normal embryos. The doctor repetitively claimed that my failures was likely due to the fact that those embryo were fertilized from frozen eggs. Other fertility doctors I consulted since all disagreed with her assessment. They said implanting timing is crucial factor to success. Following the two failures I did an IVF at CMD. This time she did the Endometrial Receptivity Analysis (ERA) test to determine the timing “implantation window”, the result clearly indicated that both of the previous of the FET transfers were implanted at the wrong time. Those embryos were not giving any chance. According to other fertility specialists that I have since consulted, they said they would have highly recommended or even required that ERA testing be done BEFORE the two FET transfers, given my age and situation. Yet, ERA testing was not conducted for the two transfers at CMD. For the ERA procedure she finally did for the next IVF, during the middle of the procedure, she didn’t have the skill to continue and asked her nurse to run to next door to grab another doctor to finish the procedure for her.

According to other doctors, my endometrium lining is very good and I don’t have any endometriosis, my chance of getting pregnant for each transfer with PGS tested normal embryos should be very high. I had even mentioned to Dr. DeUgarte that I intended to have at least one child and ideally hoped to have two children from the two embryos. Because I chose a wrong doctor, I lost everything and suffered tremendously. Her improper treatment caused me extensive damages including my potential to have a biological child, significant medical expenses for following the 6 IVF I did, time, in addition lots of pain and emotional distress. She will give you her phone number and is always smily, but those are not the reason to choose a doctor. My advice is to choose carefully and pay attention to the medical knowledge, skill, and the morality of the doctor.

FET procedures: Estrace 2 mg for 3 weeks, Gestone 1cc, baby aspirn 81 mg. Both times she implanted the embryos at the wrong time. Both time failed IVF: Gonal F 300IU, Omnitrope .25, Menopur 150 IU, Cetrotide. Lupron trigger 4mg and novarel 200IU. Started with 22 follicles, 14 retrieved, 9 fertilized, 4 blastocyst, 0 PGS tested normal.

It is very expensive, one of the more expensive clinics in LA. After each cycle she requires follow up appointment which she charges $315 to continue the next cycle, which also mean skipping a month after each cycle. For one of my follow up appointments, the wait was 1 hour 45 minutes and the talk was less than 10 min.

As a patient of Dr. DeUrgarte's, I would say she is warm and personable and most importantly reachable. From the first day that I met her she gave me her cell phone number and that was now 4 years ago and to date if I text her with a question or concern she replies quickly, most times the same day but no more than 24 hours. Dr. D also works with her patients financially allowing payment installments, discount packages for services and discounts with prescriptions filled by the pharmacy located in her building. Her strengths are patient care and carrying out necessary Medical procedures. If I had to come up with a weakness, I guess I would say recommending and diagnosing pre transfer surgeries and procedures. She airs on the side of caution and maybe some surgeries and or procedures suggested aren't a necessity. But maybe they are, I'm not a medical professional. I'm just the one paying the bill(s). Single, with cash & with no insurance assistance I might add. Another weakness may be not allowing the patient, as in my case, decide how many frozen embryos to implant . I am of advanced maternal age, only have a certain amount of embryos from donor eggs left and am paying for each transfer cash which is a hardship. I would have liked to have had a say so with regards to the number of embryos being transferred at a time, I asked for two. My first two transfers she implanted two and now with the attempts to extend my family she will only implant one per cycle. Nevertheless I am forever grateful to God and Dr. Deurgarte for she has compassionately assisted me with conceiving one live birth thus far, of my beautiful first child, and we are currently working on extending my family as we speak. Thus far the attempts have yielded negative pregnancy tests yet she and I are hopeful that the next cycle yields a positive pregnancy test and viable full-term pregnancy resulting in the birth of my second healthy child.

Tell her what your expectations are and what you want to achieve from the beginning. Be candid and open with everything.

To my recollection , To stimulate a period if needed, she prescribes low-dose birth control pills. Following that at a given time the birth control pills are stopped and your period starts. Following the start of your period, if needed and depending on your diagnosis and your particular situation, you begin taking estrogen orally or you begin delestrogen shots 0.2cc every 3 days along with inserting an estrogen pill vaginally daily. 6 days before transfer you begin taking progesterone shots 1cc daily along with the prior regimen. The day of transfer you begin inserting crinone 8cc vaginally daily until test day. You also take one baby aspirin 80 mg daily. Prenatal vitamin and vitamin E daily. Any additional supplements are at the patient's discretion. All of this was done to thicken my uterine walls in hopes that the embryo would be able to stick and stay.

I don't recall the total cost for a fresh Cycle using donor eggs. I just recall it was very expensive. A frozen Embryo transfer cost is $3350. With discount the cost is $2512.50. The facility fee is $975. Acupuncture pre & post is $350. Medication is approximately $800. Embryo storage fee is $650. Lab work is approximately $500 (she gives discounts on some labs also).

My first two cycles one of which resulted in the live birth of my beautiful child she said the maximum embryos that she would transfer at a time is two. She transferred two during the fresh cycle which failed and two during the second attempt using Frozen embryos which yielded a positive pregnancy and healthy birth. Unbeknown to me until preparing for the extension of my family did I find out that because I am of advanced maternal age and my uterus isn't perfect looking and beautifully lined that she made the decision, without me, that she would only be transferring one embryo. That was disheartening to me as well as shocking. No matter what I said or how many times I asked she had a very strong opinion on her reasoning for only transferring one per cycle. She said that if both embryos took it could be dangerous for MyHealth and the health of The Unborn children. She had been successful for me in the past and so I was prayerful that even with the one and not the two I would get pregnant. But to date after multiple tries I have not (yet! but will).

Dr. DeUgarte is a perfect blend of knowledgeable and intuitive. She is an extremely positive person and gave us hope about conceiving a child. She is up on the latest research as well. She counseled us on all options available and led us through each process. She didn’t recommend going straight to IVF- she encouraged us to start with IUI. She’s patient-focused, not money-focused.

Listen to her recommendations. Get all tests possible before you move ahead with IUI or IVF. I opted out of one test she recommended, and I wish I would have had it. It would have saved us a few IUI attempts.

We started with unmedicated IUI and then moved to IVF. We had an egg retrieval and a frozen embryo. We have yet to do the transfer.

About $1200 per IUI and about $9000 for egg retrieval and embryo freezing. $1700 for genetic tests of embryos.

My husband and I feel so luck to be in Dr D's care. She is incredibly sweet with the best bedside manor. Not only that, she is extremely thorough, insanely smart and takes the time to explain every step of the process and work closely with you to create the fertility path that best suites you.

Listen to everything she tells you to do. She will NOT steer you in the wrong direction.

Because I was hesitant to dive right into IVF, we decided to do a few rounds of medicated IUI's. Due to endometriosis blocking my right tube, Dr D worked very carefully with us to monitor what side I was ovulating from, to make sure it was my good side / increase our chances. Unfortunately, after 4 rounds (i stubbornly insisted on a 4th), we moved onto IVF. I did the standard stims, but Dr D also incorporated a trigger shot into my regimin, as a means to decrease overstimulation. Contrary to other dr's, she advised a low salt, high protein diet, post retrieval. My recouperation was easy with zero complications, and we happily have 5 pgs normal embryos. (20 retrieved, 19 fertilized, 8 blast). We are two days post retrieval and awaiting results soon! Furthermore, Dr D strongly suggested that I do weekly accupuncture. I truly believe that this had a strong factor in my positive IVF results.

Compared to other fertility clinics in southern california, CMD fertility is the most affordable I came across. Furthermore, Dr D is willing to work with you on costs, and consult with you on ways to save money.

Dr D advised us to move forward with one embryo, knowing that it would be tough for my husband and I to afford and manage twins.

The process is overwhelming, and as simple as she tries to explain the procedures and the things that I have to do it's hard to remember all the details. At times, it's almost too casual. She's recommended additional doctors for me to see as a preparation for the procedures, but she doesn't have business cards for them. I'm very detailed and like to prepare, so having the gritty details makes me feel more comfortable. I'd love to walk away with a to-do list of sorts to help keep me on track and know what we've covered and what to expect down the road. I'm also asked to do blood tests, however, I don't know exactly what we are checking. I feel like I just need to trust that she'll guide me.

Be more prepared with a huge list of questions. She'll answer them all. I walked in expecting that I didn't have to do the research and she would tell me everything single thing that I need. It gets overwhelming while you're talking to her as you're taking in so much information, it's hard to remember to ask everything that you need to and should. Actually ask, what else you need to know. Also ask for a written list of things that you need to do and/or see.

I'm just at the beginning and am on Progesterone for 10 days, then BCP then estrogen pills.

She was really good about costs as the treatments are not covered by my insurance. My earlier visits were listed as missed period visits, so it was covered and all I had to pay was the co-pay. For the frozen embryo transfer, the costs includes reviewing donor's records, visits, co-ordination, injection instructions, ultrasounds, blood tests, the transfer, facility fees at $4825.

Because of my age, she is only recommending a single embryo transfer.

Dr. DeUgarte has treated me with such kindness and compassion that you would never expect to get from a doctor, but when going through infertility it's what you need most in addition to a plan that is catered to you and your partner. Before seeing Dr. D my husband and I were very stressed and confused about our fertility struggles and next steps to take. We were seeing another RE and he never made things clear for us which made all of our decisions even more confusing. Finding Dr. D was a godsend. At the first appointment she had already reviewed our records, went over some studies for couples in our situation and laid out a plan that my husband and I were both comfortable with. She has always been a calming force whenever we see her and we actually look forward to our visits.

As with any doctor you see for infertility do your research and know the questions you want to ask beforehand. Bring a pen and paper because you will learn a lot during your consult.

We tried 3 medicated IUIs (2 with clomid and 1 with follistim) before moving to IVF. She said studies showed at my age I should try 3 IUIs first. We moved onto IVF and she suggested 1/2 of our eggs be fertilized with ICSI because we were more in the unexplained category and also recommended PGS testing and a medicated FET. A frozen transfer she said would reduce my chances of OHSS (I had 24 follicles) and also give my body time to recover from all of the medications.

We had great insurance coverage so everything involved with the egg retrieval, ICSC, PGS and transfer were $8,000. Most expensive charge was for PGS testing.

She always recommends transferring 1 embryo especially if PGS tested but would transfer 2 if we wanted.

I liked Dr. DeUgarte from the moment I met her. Although she was very busy, I never felt rushed out of her office and she even gave me her mobile number so that I could contact her with any questions or concerns in her off-hours. I rarely used it, although I did a couple of times, as I wanted to respect her time off.

I don't think any advice needs to be given... she's a wonderful doctor, kind, caring, compassionate, and I haven't hesitated to recommend her to others in the past.

For my first IUI I did it naturally (i.e. no drugs), when that didn't work, we moved to using Clomid for my second cycle with a trigger shot -- that was AWFUL, at least for me -- I have chronic depression and was off all of my meds to get pregnant (and planned on being off them throughout the pregnancy), and I had a severe depressive episode in reaction to the Clomid (a known side-effect). For my final try, my third cycle, I believe I went back to no drugs. Again, I was unsuccessful though.

Unfortunately it was a while ago, so I don't remember. However, Dr. DeUgarte worked with my insurance with regard to blood tests, genetic testing, and other tests that were required so that I paid little out of pocket for those services. My insurance did not cover the IUI procedures themselves, and the clinic offered "packages" to help reduce the cost of each procedure. I elected to pay for each IUI separately, as I didn't expect to have any trouble getting pregnant, but in the end I was unsuccessful and would have saved some money if I purchased a package.

I have no experience with this.

She is a wonderful human being and I believe a good doctor. I don't how aggressively she looks for modifications to a treatment plan. We did 3 fresh transfers. I didn't know much about FET until after I had switched doctors. After 2 failed transfers, why didn't we try an FET the 3rd time? I had 3 blasts, so they should have been able to freeze them. This option was never even discussed. As a person, I really care about her but I don't believe I would refer anyone to her given that we did 3 retrievals and 3 transfers and had no pregnancies. She did get a friend of mine pregnant with twins (the friend who referred me to Dr. D.)

To join an infertility support group like I did. This was where I learned everything I've learned. That they can better direct their own care and procedures since Dr. D. didn't behave like a detective to figure out what was wrong and how she could change up the protocol for better results.

I wholly trusted Dr. DeUgarte, who was equal parts sensitive and lovely to interact with, and both talented and cutting-edge as a doctor. My case was complicated and difficult, and I could tell she was thinking about my case and working away at it. Once she went to a conference and came back with some new research, which she gave me to read, saying excitedly that this applied to my case and that we'd adjust our course of treatment. That was the medication and protocol that finally resulted in the birth of my daughter.

I think the first time patients visit a fertility doctor, they are often hesitant and wanting to go a very conservative route. In my first visit with her, I was caught off guard and felt that her suggestion of treatment plans were more aggressive than I expected; but she proved very willing to go slow with me and start off with milder procedures like medication alone. Over the course of a year and a half and several IUIs, no success. In the end it was IVF that resulted in my child. In hindsight I see that she was right at that first visit; because of my age and fertility issues, aggressive treatment was the appropriate course for me, and as a skilled doctor she was telling me what she knew from experience. It would have saved me time and money to go with her instincts from the start. But I don't think that's an uncommon experience for fertility patients, to take time to wade in, and she respected and was sensitive to the process I was going through.

I am still undergoing treatment for IVF with Dr. D after two failed IUIs (one with another Dr. and one with her). She has been extremely communicative throughout the entire process, explaining everything and answering all my questions. She is very warm and compassionate and makes you feel at ease in what can be a stressful and emotional experience. I appreciate her candor and her willingness to keep things moving.

Come prepared with your questions-I often times would get caught up in the moment (ultrasound, blood work, pharmacy) and forget things I wanted to ask. She is always reachable by email and cell if you forget!

For my IUI, I was only on 75 IU of Follistim. I am currently on Follistim and Menopur (adding in Ganirelix later) prior to my ER.

IUI was approximately $2500. IVF is around $16k plus meds.

Dr D. is a wonderful doctor. She’s compassionate, smart and makes you feel like a person not a number. She takes the time to walk you through step by step and answer every question thoroughly. Even though I haven’t gotten pregnant yet I would still highly recommend her.

Learn the nurses name so you can email them with any outstanding questions for the doctor.

We went through 3 medicated IUI cycles with constant monitoring.

Each IUI was about $700 out of pocket. All of the initial appointments and fertility diagnosis treatments were covered by insurance

She was warm and present from the moment we met. I was excited to meet a doctor I trusted. She was very thorough when going over my tests and making recommendations. My husband also liked and trusted her. We’re looking forward to continuing the process with her.

Make sure you have all tests from other doctors and that you send them ahead or bring them.

We are still beginning the process with her, but she has recommended another d&c for me, vitamins for my husband, and supervised insemination.

$300 for consult/ultrasound. More for outside testing. $179 for the subsequent visit.

Very friendly and good at returning calls and emails. Sometimes forgot her recommendation or certain details so good if you remember as well. Helpful to bring a list of questions to ask so you remember to get your questions in.

You are in good hands!

Expensive! But I was able to do preliminary diagnostic labs for free.

She wanted to include only one and we only had one to transfer.